Research Projects

Stanford Project on Emerging Companies

The Stanford Project on Emerging Companies (SPEC), launched in 1994, focuses on the links between an organization's employment practices and other aspects of the business. During data collection that spanned 1994 to 1997, SPEC researchers conducted a longitudinal study of nearly 200 young Silicon Valley companies and their founders.

Led by James Baron, now William S. Beinecke Professor of Management at Yale School of Management, and Michael Hannan, StratCom Professor of Management at the Business School, SPEC studied over 180 Silicon Valley high-tech firms through interviews, surveys, and archival research. Earlier research established different employment patterns based on how the organization's human resource practices are aligned with strategy, organizational culture, and technology. Researchers were then able to evaluate how these different employment practices impact organizational performance, such as the rate of IPO and the ability to raise capital. More recent research has included strategy formulation and implementation, financial contracting, and gender composition.

The SPEC dataset has proven to be an invaluable intellectual asset used by scholars at Stanford and other leading research institutions to generate an even wider range of research.

Some of the research papers to come out of SPEC include:

“In the Company of Women: Gender Inequality and the Logic of Bureaucracy in Start-up Firms.” James N. Baron, Michael T. Hannan, Greta Hsu, and Özgecan Koçak. Work and Occupations 34 (2007) 35-66.